Reflections on Imagery

Main menu

Post navigation

Palmyra

The Arch of Palmyra was built approximately 1,800 years ago at an elevation of 1,250 feet above our current sea level in what is now Syria. Until the remains of the structure were dynamited by ISIL in October 2015 the monumental ruins included one large arch flanked on both sides by two smaller arches. The stonework in the image above is abstracted from one of the smaller arches.

6 thoughts on “Palmyra”

I notice this site is several hundred feet above sea level and yet the image depicts what certainly seems like a moonrise over an ocean or other large body of water. Could there be some cautionary tale in this, or is the water imagery more metaphorical?

Hi Bob. Dr. Google tells me that if all the ice at the poles, and all the glaciers around the world melt, the seas will rise about 250 feet. If that’s so it is highly unlikely the remains of the Palmyra arches will ever find themselves largely under water. Perhaps what’s going on here is sort of like a dream assembly of images that the dreamer senses does not correspond to actuality. Perhaps the question arises, “What am I seeing?” And since there is no actual correspondence to refer to, if an answer is uttered I think something a little magical has occurred. The dreamer’s recognition is a creation. A nudging open of a door revealing the place where we all part ways. Each of us knowing those things that only each of us can know.

Fair enough. I ask because until I read the post, I had not recognized this as a man-made object, I had thought it was an example of one of those really interesting designs nature comes up with by way of erosion, in which case the ocean makes perfect intuitive sense.

I do hope you won’t be distracted by the text in the post. That you saw a design you found interesting that seemed to be the product of erosion is spectacularly gratifying. If time permits I hope you will put aside the explanatory language I offered and find in your thoughts the place where the design-generating erosion is occurring. I’m guessing it’s a world of wonders.